


Stories Within Another Wolrd

by AshSorrows



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 06:24:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14326518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshSorrows/pseuds/AshSorrows
Summary: This is a collection of short fanfiction stories. The stories will not always be about the same characters, and this book will be an ongoing work.  Essentially, as I watch/read/listen to more TV shows/movies/books/songs, if I am inspired by a particular character or the concept, I will create a short story and post it here.





	Stories Within Another Wolrd

The floor was littered with them. Layered over the metallic tiles, and beneath the dim white lights, were sheets of yellowed paper mixed in with newer ones, fresh off the printing press. There was a light breeze coming from a vent hanging in over them, but they were prevented from flying around the room by recorders, thin, silver sticks that fit snugly in the palm of his hand. There were several buttons on the top of each one, and a mic and speaker at the bottom of it.

He bent down slowly, painfully, his bad back restricting his movements. Eventually, his callused fingers curled around one of the recorders, and he straightened back up, as much as he could. His hands trembled a little, as he pressed it against his cheek, feeling the cold metal suck the warmth from him. Then he pressed one of the buttons at the top.

*Beep*

_"This is Dr.Gottlieb. I am very, very busy at the moment, hence why you're listening to me right now. Leave a message after the beep, and if I somehow have a moment to spare, I'll get right back to you." His tone was bored, and very much annoyed that he'd needed to take precious time out of his day just to record a stupid voice message to tell them to leave another, surprise surprise, voice message._

*Beep*

A deep, mocking voice answered the phone.

_"Hello, Dr.Gottlieb, this is Dr.Geiszler."_

There was a long pause. Then it reverted back into something more familiar and excited.

_"Hahaha, just kidding! Sorry, sorry, I know you don't sound like that. How you been, He-man! It's Newt, your best friend! Just calling in to let you know, I got the job at Shao Corporation! Yeah it's a little rough around the edges, the boss really works me to the bone and I have to learn Chinese, but for my first foray into the private sector, it's not all that bad! I miss ya buddy, kinda sad that you chose to stay on with the military, could really use you here with me man, its cutting edge stuff we're working with here. I can't tell you about it over the phone of course, and we're working on a proposal for funding that rolls out next week, you'll see it then!"_

At this point the message, Newt paused. Hermann could hear him suck in a breath through his teeth, as he hesitated on the next sentence.

_"Or... I don't know man, you could come down for dinner with me, maybe stay a couple of days? I met this new gal at work recently, she's pretty cool, pretty cool... But I might need some help with her, y'know? For... for... A wingman! Yeah, to help set me up! Let me know when you can make it, and I'll tell you about what we're working on over dinner! Hope to hear from ya, buddy."_

*Beep*

Hermann took a shaky breath, steadying himself as the recorder finished delivering its contents. A small tear rolled down his cheek. This was the first time. This was the first time it Newt had asked for it. It was also the first time he'd mentioned the 'woman'. That thing, they'd found in his apartment during the investigation afterward.

He felt the recorder slip from his hand, and he watched numbly as it crashed into the floor, smashing into several chunks of varying sizes. It didn't matter, he had copies of that saved.

The next thing he picked up, however, was a little less replaceable. It was a yellowed letter, dated a couple of years after the voice message he'd just played. It was crinkled and the ink was faded, and Hermann strained to read it in the dimly lit room.

_Dear Hermann,_

_I got really bored of leaving you voice messages, so I figured maybe I'd change things up, write you a letter instead. Once again, it's me, your buddy, Newt! How are ya? I saw it on the news, the unveiling of Saber Athena? Man that was cool! That whole bit where it combined both sabers into a one giant long sword? So awesomeee!!! I tried to petition on swords to my boss for our prototype Jaeger, but she shut me down so fast I couldn't tell her that there'd be two swords instead of one and that they'd both be on fire. It's such a cool idea man, maybe it's a good thing she didn't want it, I'll keep it for myself._

_Okay, okay, that's enough about work, let's talk about the fun stuff! I've been working a lot lately (wait for it, you dummy), staying back to spend more time with the lady from work I told you about! Her name's Alice, and she... She's pretty cool. Not a looker, but more of a thinker. And I think that's the kind of lady who'd be a perfect match for someone like me, y'know? Cos I'm a scientist and everything haha. Anyway, again, I don't know how long till you get this, but I'm still happy for you to come down and meet her. We're spending a lot of nights together now, if you get my drift, and I think she's the one. Come on down, meet with her. I think there's a couple of things with our relationship you could really help me with, but you'd need to see her to understand._

_Your best buddy,_

_Newt._

Hermann felt his hand scrunch up into a fist, crushing the paper and wrinkling it even further. He begun a slow, shuffling pace around the cell, going in circles, his eyes scanning the mess of papers and recorders on the floor. He had already read and listened to everything there once before. Not that it helped. He'd never really ever paid attention to them, they were worthless drivel, the kind of thing that Newt really liked. He'd never actually replied to any of them, a sore point of contention whenever Newt was in the Shatter dome for work and had a few minutes to meet with him. They were both trying to prepare for a new Kaiju invasion, each in their own way, and Hermann didn't consider such pointless distractions healthy for their work.

Still, Newt had continued to ply him with these things for years. For nine long years. It was always the same. Some cryptic updates about his work, nothing confidential, the occasional workplace story, his struggle with Chinese and Chinese food. And Alice. Newt never stopped talking about Alice. Alice was great, Alice was a great help in his research project. Alice always knew what he was going to say. Alice and him had gotten an apartment together. Alice this, Alice that. Whatever, Hermann had been happy his bubbly friend had found an enthusiastic playmate who also helped with his work. 

"I should've known," Hermann whispered, staring bleakly into space. 

Every piece of communication had been the same, always the same few things. Except the last one. The video chat. It had been short, about five minutes. Newt had made it from his bedroom, seated on a laptop on his lap, and with his back right up the glass window that separated him and a really long fall. He'd been drunk, his eyes red and a wine glass swaying in his hand. There were scratches all over his arms, and his normally already messy hair was downright chaotic. 

He'd sat in silence for the first thirty seconds of the video, staring blankly at somewhere behind the camera. 

"Heyyy there buddy," he croaked, a crooked smile breaking out from his face. "Mah... buddy bud bud. How's it... hanging at the SHATTER DOME WHOO!" 

Newt had thrown his hands skyward when screaming the last few words, and promptly smashed the wineglass against the window behind him. He looked at his empty hand, blood running down in rivulets from a small gash, in mild shock for a few seconds. Then he grew scarily calm. 

 _"Sorry about that, Hermann,"_  he winced as he stretched his neck, eyes squeezed extraordinarily tightly.  _"It's been a long day. Alice and I had a fight."_

Newt opened his eyes now and tears flowed freely.  _"I've noticed for a while now that she's been taking the project in a different direction, but I never brought it up because I thought that it was harmless. Well, today I sat down and had a really long talk with her and I found out... everything. Everything, man."_

The last three words had been a series of choked sobs as Newt's face contorted in pain, and Hermann had only figured that out after listening to that phrase countless times. 

 _"I... really disagreed with where she wanted the drone program to go, like I really really did, but I couldn't say no to her. It's Alice man, she's the only one who understands me and how important the work is here. I just..."_ And here his face screwed up, as he struggled to get the words out.  _"I just think that it's important to us for different things man, so we had a big showdown over that. I lost, that's why I'm here drinking. And she's sitting right over there, smug and all."_

_"I was... I was thinking that if you finally came to meet her, like just once man, just once, you'd be able to back me up, y'know? Convince Alice that doing the project my way is better. Cos I... I wanna save the world man. Not like we haven't already done that, but I wanna save the world in advance you know? Before the Kaiju come back. But she's in it for personal gain over anything else, and she doesn't really care if it saves humanity or not. So I thought, if the other guy who saved the world with me came and talked to her, or at least came and saw her, he'd be able to help me, y'know? Give me some advice on how to get through to her, or at least get the drone program back on track."_

It was as if a great weight had been lifted off his chest after Newt had finished ranting. He leaned back on the glass, letting out a gasp of air. 

_"Ah shit, my nose is bleeding. Maybe I drank too much. See you soon Hermann, hopefully. Drop by for real please, I've been begging you for years man!"_

And then the screen went black. Silence reigned supreme in the room for a couple of seconds. Then Hermann turned to the man strapped in the middle of the room, hope bright in his eyes. 

"Are you there, Newt? Can you hear me now?"

The man in the chair tilted his head, staring curiously at Hermann. 

"He really wasn't easy to crack, you know," The Precursor casually said. 

Hermann gritted his teeth. "No no no, please no. Say something, Newt. Not this guy. Please Newt, please."

"Oh he tried to tell you about us. Wrote about it in every letter! Of course he couldn't write directly about us, no no, we were already too strong for that but he found loopholes. Not that it helped." The Precursor cackled. "Such a smart friend. And so, so stupid." 

"Give him back," Hermann whispered, his already pale face somehow growing ever paler. "Please. You already tried to carry out your plan. You don't need him anymore, give him back to me." 

The Precursor was already shaking his head. "We kept him a loose leash for years because it was easier to let him play the part of being human while we slowly directed from the shadows. But he almost broke free a year ago, and we had to shut him down, permanently take over. And that... that's irreversible." 

Hermann could see it in his head, the sudden nosebleed that had ended the video message. "You killed him." 

The Precursor now nodded gleefully. "Yep yep, you get it now! We fried his brain and used the hardware for a new set of software. There's bits and pieces of him in here... but the whole thing is already gone. We've been acting as Newt for over a year now and we'd like to think that we were quite good at it." 

Hermann marched right up to the man who looked like Newt but wasn't and held his shoulders in a death grip, his walking stick clattering to the floor. "You broke him, you can fix him! Fix him, fix him!"

Amidst Hermann's repeated demands, the Precursor threw his head back and laughed. "We can't! We can't! If only you'd been there for him!"

"Fix him!  _Fix him!"_ Hermann was incoherent and barely paying any attention to what the alien was saying. 

"It would've been so easy! Meet him for dinner at his place, take one look at the fucking Kaiju brain in his apartment and you've could've put a stop to us!"

"Fix him  _please!"_

"All you had to do was  _care_  about him."

Hermann collapsed, a sobbing wreck. "I know, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry Newt. I should've been there for you."

"I'm sorry too, Hermann." 

"Wha-?" Hermann shot up, his eyes wide open. 

A high pitched, insane laughter filled the room. "Did that get your attention? I  _told_ you we did a pretty good job of acting like him!"

Hermann could only stare at the man who'd formerly been his friend, maniacally laughing away. Forlornly alone in the middle of that room. With nothing but his regrets. 


End file.
